From Cubicle Slave to Music Producer

March 22 2014

Dear List-servers,

It's hard to believe that two years ago I spent most of my time in a grey cubicle working an unfulfilling corporate job. Now, I spend my time writing, engineering and producing electronic music under the name Hyperbits.

If you're into that sort of thing, here are some thoughts about making the transition from life-sucking-cubicle-slave into full-time music producer and DJ.

1. Being an artist is all about creating a volume of work. For more on this, Google "The Gap by Ira Glass" and watch the 2-minute video by Daniel Frohlocke, it could change your life.

2. There is literally no man living that cannot do more than he thinks he can. So stay up late, drink some coffee, keep your head down and get to work. Do WHATEVER it takes to stay positive and stay inspired. Personally, I would take persistence over talent any day of the week.

3. Trust yourself and go with your gut. If you don't like your job or what you do everyday, just move on. It's very easy to get caught up in what other people or even what society thinks is best for you. But generally speaking, no one knows you better than you. So, do you.

4. I once read an analogy that doing creative work is a lot like sending messages in a bottle out to sea. You keep sending them and sending them and every once in a while, something will eventually come back to you.

5. "You don't need an expensive studio to make expensive sounding records. I guarantee some of your favorite tracks were made on headphones in hotel rooms on half broken computers. You don't need connections, you need passion and talent. Anyone can open the door for you, but it's you that has to break the thing down and show that you deserve to be in the room." - Nick Thayer

For anyone still reading I leave you with this:

The secret to good eggs is low heat.

And lastly, no one listens to music just to hear the end of the song, right?